greenpeace european unit towards sustainable agriculture marco contiero eu policy director –...

Greenpeace European Unit

Towards sustainable agriculture

Marco Contiero

EU Policy Director – Agriculture

Greenpeace

European Parliament

8 December

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We need to feed the world

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Productivity narrative

World population 9.2 billion in 2050 Increasing meat in Emerging economies’ diets Increase in agricultural productivity is slowing down Natural resource constraints Climate change impacts limit food production

Solution: Increase agricultural productivity

How: 1. High yielding intensive farming

2. Modern technologies

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Sustainable Intensification=

Produce More From Less

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Problems

• How do we feed 9 billion people in 2050?

• How do we feed 7 billion people today?

• How to continually provide enough nutritious food to all?

• How to provide enough water, education, sanitation…?

• How to increase equality in distribution and access to food

Focus on yield fails to address political and economic issues preventing people access to safe and nutritious food.

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Current situation

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GMOs

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1. Risks

Prone to unintended and unpredictable effects

1. Complex regulation mechanisms of genes

2. Complex interaction with plants metabolism

3. Complex interactions plant‘s genes and its environment

4. Inserted genes may

- disrupt the plant's own genes - be unstable in their new environment- function differently than expected (producing diff. protein)

5. Fragments and Rearrangements

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2. Environmental impacts

Insect-resistant crops: 1. Toxicity to ‘non-target’ organisms and beneficial insects.

2. Threats to soil and river ecosystems

3. Development of insect resistance

Herbicide tolerant (HT) crops:1. Toxic effects of herbicides on ecosystems.

2. Increased weed tolerance to herbicide

3. Loss of native flora and other biodiversity.

4. Effects on soil-plant system (e.g. microbial community, manganese uptake).

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Intensive systems- Glyphosate

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Glyphosate resistant weeds

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Syngenta

BASF

DuPont

Monsanto

Bayer

Dow

Source: ETC Group

3. Corporate control

GM Crops market

100%

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Syngenta

BASF

DuPont

Monsanto

Other

Bayer

Dow

Syngenta

BASF

DuPont

Monsanto

Bayer

Dow

Global Agrochemical Market

Source: ETC Group

3. Corporate control

GM Crops market

100%

74%

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Owners of the Seed Market - 2006

Source: ETC Group

Other

SyngentaDuPont

Mon

sant

o

TOP

10

39%57%

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Other

Owners of the Seed Market - 2007

Source: ETC Group

TOP 10

SyngentaDuPont

Monsanto

47%

67%

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Owners of the Seed Market - 2009

Source: ETC Group

Other

TOP 10 Syngenta

DuPont

Monsanto

53%

73%

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Since 1960s:

8,000 crop varieties by CGIAR72,500 proprietary plant varieties1,900,000 1.9 million plant varieties bred by peasants

Science for diversity Vs.

Science for uniformity

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I. Agro-ecology• UN Report Human Rights Council [United Nations ,Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, 2011]

- Agroforestry

- Water harvesting

- Integration of livestock into farming systems- Integrated nutrient management

• J. Pretty analysis 286 sustainable agriculture projects (57 poor countries)

- Average crop increase 79 %

- Supply critical environmental services

• UNCTAD UNEP analysis [UNEP-UNCTAD, 2008] UK Foresight Report (40 projects, 20 African countries)

- Average crop increase in Africa 116% and

- Average crop increase in East Africa 128%

Can double food production in 10 years

4. Hinder sustainable solutions

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Nitrogen to the soil, Increased resilience, more carbon stored, increased maize yields by 280% in Malawi

Agroforestry – Evergreen AgricultureMaize fields in Tanzania - World Agroforestry Centre

Fai

dh

erb

ia a

lbid

a

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Biotechnology

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ModernBiotechnology

‘Smart Breeding’

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Flood-tolerant rice

Thrives after being submerged for 10 to 15 days

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Drought-tolerant rice

The Philippines – El Niño from December

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Saline-tolerant rice

Rice paddies near sea – Climate Change & Typhoons

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Holstein cow– 650 kg bodyweight– Typically produce 8,000

litres / year– Average 3.5 lactations– 2.5 tonnes purchased feed

per year– 1.5 acres of land– Feed brought to cow– Manure spread by machine

Source: Tom Malleson

Greenpeace European Unit

Grazing cow– 450kg bodyweight– Typically produce 5,000 litres

/ year– For 6 lactations or more– 0,5 tonnes purchased feed

per year– One acre of land– Harvests most of her own

feed– Spreads most of her own

manure– Virtually no diesel required! Source: Tom Malleson

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Thank

You!

www.greenpeace.eu